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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Jagger: 'I'm not wealthy'
By Liz Jones, Evening Standard
22 June 2005
In a rare interview, Bianca Jagger tells Liz Jones how her life is about so much more than being Mick's ex-wife and explains why she has spent 25 years fighting for human rights.
I am a bit nervous about meeting Bianca Jagger for lunch. For one, she is something of a heroine of mine, someone who has worked tirelessly for the cause of human rights for nearly a quarter of a century. I hate to admit it but she has also been something of a style icon: the severe, perfectly tailored suits, the slash of red mouth.
She has aged with a great deal of dignity. But she also has a reputation for being quite fierce and unforgiving; she does her homework (she arrives for our interview with sheaves of figures and reports under one arm) and has been known to chew up journalists and spit them out.
We meet at Claridge's, where the doorman later tells me she is "the nicest lady who has ever stayed here; she never forgets anyone's name and always tips handsomely".
She is using a crutch, having damaged her knee in an accident, but still looks impeccable, in a black trouser suit and cream silk blouse, silvery flecks in her dark hair.
I tell her she doesn't look her age as we order lunch (she doesn't eat meat, only fish, and is allergic to dairy).
She says the world of fame was never really hers, and she has spent years escaping from the stereotype of being the wife of Mick Jagger - they were married for nine years in the Seventies. What has defined her is nearly 25 years of campaigning for human rights, travelling the world for her cause.
Now she is concerned about celebrity involvement in the movement to eradicate poverty in Africa. Firmly in her sights are Bob Geldof and Bono. "Celebrities need to be cautious about using soundbites and hype and spin when we are dealing with issues as complex and overwhelming as this.
"The campaign to make poverty history is the collaborative effort of NGOs, grassroots organisations, the United Nations and thousands of people throughout the world who together are trying to achieve the millennium development goals. We would be very naive to think that debt relief of £40 billion and aid concerts will solve these problems.
"A lot of people are impressed by fame, impressed by Bono and Geldof. I don't think we need to sell out to cynical politicians in order to be effective. Although we need to persuade people in power, we should not succumb to make a difference. You say Bono and Geldof have highlighted the G8 summit, but it isn't just about the two of them."
She is "concerned about this club of mutual admiration" between Geldof and Bono and Bush and Blair. "Geldof said debt relief was a 'victory for the millions of people in the campaign around the world', and Bono called it 'a little bit of history'. I am concerned that after the aid concerts and the G8 meeting the public will be left with the impression that we have gone a long way, we will feel wonderful and believe we have done our bit.
"Did Geldof and Bono read the small print about the imposition of privatisation and trade liberalisation that will continue to maintain the status quo in these countries?"
She will indeed be in Edinburgh to lobby for fair trade, and has just launched, alongside Hilary Benn, the Secretary of State for International Development, a new initiative from the Grow Up Free From Poverty coalition of 21 NGOs in which 4,000 children in 18 developing countries have been interviewed and given a rare chance to say what they think should be done to improve their lives.
A group of girls in the Uttarkashi region of India say simply: "We want to be active participants in the development of our village."
Bianca Jagger says that for the first time we are hearing what the next generation who actually live in the developing world think and dream of achieving by the year 2015.
"I was stunned by the clarity," she says. "They all see education as a priority and are concerned about alcoholism and abuse, and even understand corrupt politicians."
She was born Bianca Perez-Mora Macias in Nicaragua, still the second most impoverished country in the southern hemisphere. I ask if she was already politicised aged 16, when she left her home country to study political science in Paris, but she says what really opened her eyes was when, in 1972, she returned, with Mick, to Nicaragua after the devastating earthquake to find her parents - her mother, Dora, and her father, Carlos, a financier.
"It was a turning point in my life because I realised how the government was exploiting the tragedy to enrich itself.
"The big myth about me," she says, suddenly looking tired, "is that people imagine me to be very wealthy and have a glamorous life. But I don't. I don't own any properties. I don't have a car."
Does she still own all those fabulous clothes, the Saint Laurent suit she married in and the Halston gowns? She smiles at last. "You know what? Jade and I are still talking about what she will be able to get her hands on. I have some clothes she will want; my daughter has great style."
I wonder if Jade, now 33 and creative director of Garrard, the jeweller, might find her mother a hard act to follow, but you can see Bianca is incredibly proud of her. "She is such a good mother to Assisi and Amba, she has an eco-farm in Ibiza and is extremely environmentally conscious."
Is Bianca a good granny? "I am indulgent," she says, "and I wish I could see more of them. Jade is always telling me to slow down, she worries about me. But I have to do it. It is part of what keeps me alive. And I do switch off occasionally. I love art, and I love music and theatre and opera. I do yoga, at least a little bit every day."
She has been spending the past few months flying back and forth to LA to care for her 80-year-old mother, who is suffering from motor neurone disease. "It is a terrible disease," she says. "You begin not to be able to speak, then you cannot breathe. She is paralysed but she can move her left arm and she can swallow.
"They don't know where it comes from and they don't know how to cure it. She has probably had it for five years and yet her brain is so clear, her memory is perfect. Caring for my mother has made me realise how difficult it is for anyone to end up on their own; I know how important it is to my mother that I am there for her."
Bianca says she doesn't regret not marrying again after she divorced Mick in 1979. "I should feel sometimes lonely, and I don't because I am always busy. I fear perhaps I should do something about it, because maybe one day it will be too late, but I am content on my own.
"My daughter wants me to think about why I am on my own. She says I should get away from my work and think about relationships, but I don't think I need to.
"I don't know if later on I will regret it, letting this important time in my life go by. I was brought up a Catholic and there is the belief that you marry once, for life. All I want to say is I feel content, I don't say I will never have a relationship and I never want to close the door."
I ask if she ever thinks about giving up, that nothing is changing, that the disparity between the richest countries and the poorest keeps getting wider. "I went to visit a school in Zambia, and the children were all sitting quietly and calmly waiting for us. There was a little bundle on the floor and I touched him and he was boiling hot. I held him and they told me he had Aids.
"I wanted to take him to a hospital but they said there were no medicines. His parents were dead. I was pretty demoralised when I came back, but I have never thought about giving up. I can't."
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| thejuf |
a remarkable woman...
impressive story |
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| VoodooChileInWOnderl |
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| Maxlugar |
"She says the world of fame was never really hers, and she has spent years escaping from the stereotype of being the wife of Mick Jagger - "
Yet still holds on to the Jagger name for some reason.
Airhead.
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| Joey |
quote:
Maxlugar wrote:
Airhead.
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| stonedinaustralia |
quote:
Maxlugar wrote:
Airhead.
you're a hard man maxlugar...
a hard man...
perhaps that what it takes to become an internet mogul...
[Edited by stonedinaustralia] |
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| stonedinaustralia |
quote:
VoodooChileInWOnderl wrote:
a hard woman to please |
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| Joey |
quote:
stonedinaustralia wrote:
you're a hard man maxlugar...
a hard man...
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| stonedinaustralia |
hi joey
are you hard too!? |
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| jb |
quote:
stonedinaustralia wrote:
hi joey
are you hard too!?
Hi SIA!!!! Hope all is well down- under!!! Coming stateside to see the chaps one more time?
BTW, Joey loves 'It's Hard" by the Who. |
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| Joey |
quote:
stonedinaustralia wrote:
hi joey
are you hard too!?
Hi S.I.A.
No , I just had a Lil' ' release ' here at the office :
That's what my little friends and myself running around the Plains of Nebraska with knickers on and stick ball bats in our hands used to call "Postin'!"
You're POSTIN' baby!
The Joey - As seen on the reality show "That's Postin'!", 10:00 PM CDT Sundays.
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| Joey |
quote:
jb wrote:
BTW, Joey loves 'It's Hard" by the Who.
YES !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
" Any tough can fight - few can play
Any fool can fall - few can lay
Any stud can reproduce - few can please
Anyone can pay - few can lease
It's hard
(It's a hard hard hand to hold
It's a hard land to control)
Any man can claim - few can find
Any girl can blink - few can lie
Anyone can promise - few can raise
Anyone can try - but a few can stay
Any brain can hide - few can stand
Any kid can fly - few can land
Any gang can scatter - few can form
Any kid can chatter - few can inform
It's hard - It's very very very very hard - so very hard
It's hard
(It's a hard hard hand to hold
It's a hard land to control)
Any soul can sleep - few can die
Any wimp can weep - few can cry
Everyone complains - few can state
Anyone can stop - few can wait
It's hard - It's very very very very hard - so hard
Anyone can do anything if they hold the right card
So I'm thinking about my life now
I'm thinking very hard
Deal me another hand Lord, this one's very hard
Deal me another hand Lord, this one's very hard "
http://www.thewho.net/discography/songs/ItsHard.html
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| stonedinaustralia |
hey joey # jb
we're postin'!!! |
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| texile |
ballsy - she's right about bono and geldof ..... most people buy into thier simplistic and counterproductive "band-aids" -
and max - you're so funny yet so misguided - lol.
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| FPM C10 |
quote:
Maxlugar wrote:
Airhead.
Not only THAT, but there was a woman named "Hilary" in that article too.
That bitch.
God I hate women. |
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| texile |
troubling ..... |
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| glencar |
Bianca is actually correct about a thing or two. The Africans will not develop if their goods can't be sold at market. Many Euro countries are unfairly building barriers to African products. Foreign aid is not nearly as good as market developments. She's completely off her rocker to attack Bono & Geldof for bringing attention to the plight of the world's basket case countries but that's par for the course. |
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| texile |
her knock on bono and geldof is the best thing about the interview.......jim kerr and blur's damon albarn made similar statements - and god bless them for having the balls;
live-aid was a crock of shit - 'lets feel good about our collective good will for one day...and forget about it'
all these concerts do is give the illusion that its all fixed because we care - bullshit - these concerts do nothing but promote saint bono and sir geldof to a higher form of rock star........
call me a cynic, but simplistic sloganing is counterproductive and numbing.
drawing attention is one thing - that involves real discussion....
but reuniting the spice girls is.......
now thats activism! |
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| BrianJonesForever |
God I hate women.
[/quote]
I know you don't mean it, but I'm offended by what you said. Please tone down the misogynist behavior. |
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| FPM C10 |
quote:
BrianJonesForever wrote:
God I hate women.
I know you don't mean it, but I'm offended by what you said. Please tone down the misogynist behavior.
[/quote]
I wish there was a button which denoted sarcasm - it would be as omnipresent as Bill Perk's PERMANENT CAP LOCK on my posts.
I was reacting to my friend Max Lugar's predictable reduction of everything Bianca said to "airhead". The line about hating the woman in the article for being named "Hilary" was obviously more sarcasm and again aimed at Max.
I love women and think that if women were in power the world would be a lot less fucked up. If Hilary Clinton runs for President I will vote for her in a heartbeat - that is, if some rightwing crackpot doesn't kill her first. Unfortunately that is a highly probable scenario.
I apologize for any misunderstanding my post caused.
Having gotten the requisite political correctness out of the way, I will point out that misogyny is NOT out of place on a Rolling Stones board. Got listen to "Stupid Girl" and "Backstreet Girl" and "Some Girls" and any other Stones song with the word "Girl" in it, and then get back to me. You might also look into Brian Jones' admirable track record with the ladies. |
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| Soldatti |
Bianca = Respect. |
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| BrianJonesForever |
I knew you would bring up Brian, and I know his track record, but I wasn't talking about that.
Thanks for apologizing. |
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| gypsy |
I love what Bianca's doing these days. She's really passionate about what she does. I also applaud her next task, which is helping get people off of psychotropic drugs such as Prozac, Ritalin, Luvox, and Paxil.
You go Bianca!
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| BrianJonesForever |
Why get people off of psychotic drugs? Its their business! Mental illness is debilitating, and is mostly chemical imbalances that are helped by these drugs. Its really nobody's business when people with mental illness choose medication therapy. Tom Cruise comes to mind..... |
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| texile |
c10 - exellent post;
max jacks up the political correctness in me with his shit, so forgive my rush to misinterpretation........
and bianca can get me off anything anytime....and i'm female. |
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| Bitch |
I have always been impressed with BIANCA. She has style, brains, and compassion for mankind, and she is beautiful. I find it sad that she owns no property or cars, & she is not wealthy. I assumed by the JAGGER name she has major bucks. She's happy to devote her life to work - but she should concentrate on her personal life. MICK is a hard act to follow, without a doubt. But after 25 years there must be someone worthy & good enough for Bianca. JERRY doesn't seem to have too many social causes besides finding a KEPT man to amuse her! Again MICK is an impossible act to follow. The common element of the JAGGER ex-wives. No one can top MICK. |
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| texile |
there was a painting this guy did of people who were eternally solitary.......morrisey, holly golightly, james dean, bianca etc...
those are my heroes.......lol. |
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| moy |
BIANCA JAGGER CRITICISES LIVE 8 CELEBRITIES
SIR MICK JAGGER's ex-wife BIANCA has hit out at stars such as BONO and SIR BOB GELDOF for using "hype" to highlight poverty.
Jagger, a dedicated human rights campaigner herself, is concerned the public are oblivious of the many unsung heroes involved in making the effort work - as they are blinded by the fame of the LIVE 8 figureheads. |
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